Thoughts on home location (schools, quality of life, to live)

[rnd915]

Maybe Sugar Land for your wife's commute? Main is an easy ticket to the medical center. I'll also recommend the Promenade in Stafford. Very nice beautiful homes are there and they have added new dining near the neighborhood.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by rjj42

I did look at it at one point. The only homes there that fit our budget are townhome style, which is not what we are looking for unfortunately.

OK, wasn't sure if home prices had gotten that high there, but they have been going up fast.

I would also look at Summerwood and adjacent areas. Your spouse could travel down the Beltway to 90 to the 610 Loop and take that around to the Medical Center. You also have a not-bad option on surface streets via Wayside and OST if the freeway is having problems. The Beltway and 90 don't have traffic issues as far as I know.

This would allow travel that avoids the section of 59 from I-10 to SH 288, which is terrible, terrible most weekdays.

[rjj42]

Originally Posted by Watchful

Yeah Fall Creek is the first thing that came to mind!!

Lindale Park is now BIG BUCKS but awesome location. It is not "suburb-ish" but some great older single family homes.

Are the schools in Fall Creek considered to be good?

[Watchful]

Originally Posted by rjj42

Are the schools in Fall Creek considered to be good?

I haven't lived in that area in some time but it is part of Humble School District and they likely would not be as highly regarded as the Humble schools in the Kingwood area but more highly regarded than those in some other parts of the district. The elementary school is rated 7/10 by Greatschools. Others with more recent experience can chime in!

[KatieKennedy]

The elementary school in Fall Creek is good. The middle school and zoned high school (Summer Creek) are not as highly rated.The Kingwood schools in Humble ISD are better. Before you buy a house, try the commute to both places in full on rush hour. Fall Creek advertises its commute to downtown as 15 minutes, but that must be in the middle of the might with no traffic. We lived there for a short time, and my commute to Upper Kirby was horrendous. We moved to the heights after 6 months. There are many single family homes in the Heights, and many of the elementary schools (Harvard, Travis, Field) are very highly rated. Many folks magnet out for middle and high school or go private.https://texasschoolguide.org/school-...ort=sortGrade&

[rjj42]

Originally Posted by KatieKennedy

The elementary school in Fall Creek is good. The middle school and zoned high school (Summer Creek) are not as highly rated.The Kingwood schools in Humble ISD are better. Before you buy a house, try the commute to both places in full on rush hour. Fall Creek advertises its commute to downtown as 15 minutes, but that must be in the middle of the might with no traffic. We lived there for a short time, and my commute to Upper Kirby was horrendous. We moved to the heights after 6 months. There are many single family homes in the Heights, and many of the elementary schools (Harvard, Travis, Field) are very highly rated. Many folks magnet out for middle and high school or go private.https://texasschoolguide.org/school-...ort=sortGrade&

Thanks for the suggestion! My wife and I were also thinking along the same lines of doing a trial commute (both ways) for a day or two by staying in a hotel nearby the home we were considering. In the Heights with my budget, I don't think I can afford a single family home and will have to settle for a townhome. I am personally ok with buying a townhome in the Heights, I love the general feel and look of the area too. However, my wife does not like the look of townhomes.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by rjj42

my wife does not like the look of townhomes.

Remember that both you and your wife work full-time, so a home is just a place for weekends and a couple hours each weekday evening. And the interior of a house is the easiest thing to change. I’ve seen historic houses that were completely modern-looking inside. And I’ve seen new builds that were designed to look historic inside. For 1% of the cost of the house, you can re-do all the floors in aged wood planks, for example. And when you look out the window or step into the back yard, the look of the home is meaningless.

If I’m not mistaken, The Heights has architectural standards that require newer construction to conform to historic styles.

We’re all suckers for curb appeal and superficial aesthetics. But those things should be secondary considerations. Location should be a primary consideration. Time spent commuting in traffic is years of your life that you can never get back.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

Remember that both you and your wife work full-time, so a home is just a place for weekends and a couple hours each weekday evening. And the interior of a house is the easiest thing to change. I’ve seen historic houses that were completely modern-looking inside. And I’ve seen new builds that were designed to look historic inside. For 1% of the cost of the house, you can re-do all the floors in aged wood planks, for example. And when you look out the window or step into the back yard, the look of the home is meaningless.

If I’m not mistaken, The Heights has architectural standards that require newer construction to conform to historic styles.

We’re all suckers for curb appeal and superficial aesthetics. But those things should be secondary considerations. Location should be a primary consideration. Time spent commuting in traffic is years of your life that you can never get back.

Parts of the Heights are in Historic Districts that prohibit new construction except on already vacant lots.

You might want to look at Timbergrove and Lazybrook as well.

[JL89]

Who hates driving the most? Pick a nice area near that person's commute.

From living in Houston the last 10 years, and not knowing if you work 9-5 or off-the-normal-commute-hours, ** if the suburban life appeals** I'd say

Fall Creek, Balmoral (sp? never been but pics of the pool look amazing), or Summerwood. There are nice developments further up West Lake Houston Parkway from Summerwood, but the time to commute to BW8 for your wife will push the drive past the acceptable range. From Summerwood you have two options to get downtown or Med Center -- BW8 to 90 to I10 to I69/59. Sounds convoluted and looks nuts on the map but in Houston it's always nice to have two options to get to work when the inevitable traffic pile up happens.

Look at the real-time traffic maps during your typical hours of commute. Visit any considered area several times at multiple times of the day.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have lived in temporary housing for a couple months to get a better sense of where I would be spending the most time and the traffic patterns and gauging how much I could tolerate the traffic. I HATE to drive, just hate it, so I am cursing where we ended up.....

[usc619]

Fall Creek